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The Big Book Project
The Big Book Project is a multi-venue reading experience for bibliophiles fascinated by long or dense works of fiction and interested in discussing them with others, one novel at a time.
The works selected will be capacious novels from the mid-nineteenth century through today that possess an abundant writing style or complexity in structure and themes.
The notion that reading need not be a solitary activity has special resonance with these novels given that there is much to discuss, elaborate upon and question in the authors’ expression of ideas. I like to think of these novels as abundant because I appreciate their richness and volume, characteristics bestow a sort of grace to luxuriate with the text.
The critic and scholar Alexander Nehamas writes that when a work of art beckons, it is because we do not fully understand it but feel the strong desire to do so. And it is this deliberative process, the journey, of trying to understand why a novel is extraordinary that I want to explore with fellow readers at The Big Book Project.
We discuss books like Roberto Bolaño’s 2666
The Big Book Project
Understanding Absalom, Absalom!: Faulkner’s Biblical Roots, Mythic Imagination, and the Southern Psyche
In this episode of The Big Book Project, Lori Feathers is joined by Dr. Larry Allums to launch our collective read of William Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom! — one of the most complex and unforgettable novels in American literature.
They unpack the biblical and mythological dimensions of the novel, explore its shifting narrators, and discuss how Faulkner used the story of Thomas Sutpen to expose the South’s tangled history of ambition, race, and memory.
Whether you’re a first-time reader or a lifelong admirer of Faulkner, this conversation offers insight and encouragement as we journey together through the first three chapters.
Highlights
- The meaning behind the title Absalom, Absalom!
- Rosa Coldfield’s rage and unreliable narration
- Sutpen’s “Hundred” and his mysterious design
- The “fever and the disease”: Faulkner’s metaphor for the South’s legacy of slavery
- Why Faulkner’s idea of innocence redefines tragedy
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